Wes Moore Set To Be Inaugurated As Maryland’s First Black Governor

Maryland’s 63rd governor will make history before February arrives. Wes Moore is set to be sworn today as Maryland’s first Black governor.

Moore intends to keep the historic context going during the inauguration. The Associated Press reports that before his speech, Moore will have wreath-laying ceremony at the Annapolis City Dock, one of the region’s slave ports. The docks holds a memorial for Kunta Kinte, the slave who arrived in 1767 and was the subject of Alex Haley‘s classic book (and later miniseries) Roots.

Moore will take his oath on the Bible owned by another Maryland history-maker, Frederick Douglass. His speech will have him face the mall in front of the Capitol where a statue of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall is held.

The 44-year-old is ready to get to work in his home state, and there is work to do. He told CBS News that Baltimore, a city struggling with crime and high unemployment rates, is to thank for his win. “When we were first got into this race, I was polling at 1%,” Moore said. “We ended up receiving 89% of the vote in Baltimore.”

The best-selling author tells his story about his bout with crime while living in the Bronx for a little while. In his book, The Other Wes Moore, he remembers being 11 when he was arrested .But he was given another chance. “I want the people who are given second chances also to understand that, you know, at some point second chances become last chances,” Wes said in his book, as told by CBS.

He is getting that chance as being third Black man to be elected governor in U.S history. He falls on the backs of Douglas Wilder, elected in Virginia in 1989, and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, elected in 2006. He’s bringing with him others making history. His running mate, Aruna Miller, is the first immigrant and first Asian American-elected official in the state of Maryland. Anthony Brown was sworn in earlier this month as Maryland’s first Black attorney general.